This week, Rockstar Games released a major new update for GTA V and GTA Online on PC. It has been 9 years since the blockbuster launched on PC and cheating has been an issue since the start. In a bid to combat cheating and even perhaps test for GTA 6, Rockstar added anti-cheat BattlEye.
Whilst surprise has made many GTA Online players very happy, it has come at the cost. GTA Online is no longer playable on Valve’s Steam Deck or any Linux device for that matter. The worst part is various games that use BattlEye are still playable on Linux.
Rockstar Games shared an official response to Steam Deck support ending with BattlEye’s integration. They said on their support page “Steam Deck does not support BattlEye for GTA Online. You will be able to play GTAV Story Mode but unable to play GTA Online. GTAV and GTA Online are not officially supported on Steam Deck and all technical support questions should be directed to Valve’s Steam Deck support content and community.“
Here’s the real kicker, BattlEye can work on Linux-based devices such as Steam Deck. Back in 2021, a post was made on Steam saying “BattlEye on Proton integration has reached a point where all a developer needs to do is reach out BattlEye to enable it for their title.
No additional work is required by the developer besides that communication. Partners have started turning on BattlEye support for their titles, meaning these games are now working on Steam Deck.”
Various games such as ARK: Survival Evolved, Arma 3, DayZ and more added support. It appears Rockstar Games are choosing not to support Linux anymore for GTA Online. This is disappointing and fans are hoping Rockstar change their mind.
GTA V on Steam Deck is a big deal
Despite GTA V not being Steam Deck Verified, it is still classed as Playable. It very much is. GTA V does require the Rockstar Games Launcher to load and you have to bring up the on-screen keyboard manually. Plus, the game also does not automatically set the resolution to 800p but rather 720p and you have to change it but that’s it. The game ran just fine on Steam Deck. So much so, it was a handheld favourite. You can see it running at 60FPS here.
Some people might not realise how popular GTA V and GTA Online is on Steam Deck. Essentially every month since the handheld device launched in early 2022, GTA V has been one of the most played games on it.
The Steam store page for GTA V proudly displays a banner saying “Steam Deck Top Played” and “Take this game anywhere! Grand Theft Auto V is one of the top played games on Steam Deck!”
Valve also implemented a “Steam Deck Top Played” chart on Steam. This list shows the Top 100 played games on Steam during the past week, month and year. This week, GTA V sits in 6th place. For the past month, it is 9th and in the last year it is in 11th position.
Every month, Valve shares the most played games on Steam Deck via the OnDeck Twitter account and GTA V is always there. Red Dead Redemption is also up there. Rockstar Games know this. It’s impressive considering how old GTA V is now.
GTA V player count suffers huge drop
It appears GTA V has taken a big tumble in player count on Steam due to this change. Community member @PLTytus points out, using Steam’s charts, GTA V would average around 140-160k people at any time. Now it has dropped to just over 80,000. That is half the playerbase gone in a matter of hours. This is the lowest player count GTA V has seen in years.
Angered fans have begun leaving negative reviews on Steam for GTA V. In the past 36 hours, it has had nearly 1000 negative reviews. On a typical day it only gets a handful.
Are you an avid GTA V player on Steam Deck? What do you think to this news? Let us know down in the comments below.
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